1) Does it help or hurt to build a city on a resource tile?2) I set the game up with 1800 by 1000 spaces and find that I have two to three AI players virtually next to me! ARGH! Is there way to get the players evenly spread out?3) What computer language is the game programmed in?---Suggestion: have the major AI players and then have smaller AI players (start with only one city and have to build everything from there).---Fix request: Can't be at war with a player that you have not yet contacted.

1) It helps, because you always get the output of the city tile "for free" (no unhappiness)2) In my experience, the starting positions are almost always spread out. How many players do you play against ?3) In C, plus a bit of Lua scripting, some C++ for the Qt client and Javascript for the Web client.---Currently, all players start with the same set of units (and no cities, except in scenarios). Do you mean players starting randomly with 1 to 3 settlers (for sample) ?---I don't understand why it would be a problem. When civilisations that don't know each other meet for the first time, they are virtually at war: there can't be any treaty between them. AI players will in most cases accept a cease-fire when they meet you.

djconklin wrote: Does it help or hurt to build a city on a resource tile?

It depends on the ruleset, e.g., in the experimental ruleset all cities start as tiny 3x3 area (9 tiles iso, for hex it is simply radius 1 and 7 tiles). Rulesets typically upgrade 0-y-z to 1-y-z (minimally 1 food) and x-0-z to x-1-z (minimally 1 shield) for the city centre, and you get free irrigation (and later farmland) on the city centre for any terrain that can be irrigated (tundra, plains, hills, grassland.)

In other words, it might be smart to build on grassland without resources to get the "minimally 1 shield" effect.